The Neuroscience of Moral Agency (Or: How I Learned to Love Determinism and Still Respect Myself in the Morning)
The findings of neuroscience are often used to undermine traditional assumptions about the nature of human agency. In this talk, I sketch out a compatibilist position which leverages a neo-Aristotelian concept of “critical control distinctions”—rather than talking about whether agents freely will actions, a more consilient vocabulary asks whether agents were in control or out of control when the action was taken. A plausible neurobiological determinism can save what is worth saving about our traditional notions of responsibility and also points toward a twenty-first century research agenda which coevolves legal and moral norms about responsibility with neuroscientific critical control capacities.
Date: 14 February 2017, 16:00
Venue: Oxford Martin School, Lecture Theatre
Speakers: Speaker to be announced
Organiser: Professor Julian Savulescu (Institute for Science and Ethics, Oxford Martin School)
Organiser contact email address: rachel.gaminiratne@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Topics:
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://bookwhen.com/uehiro
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Rachel Gaminiratne